An investigation of the formation of rapport between players and dealers in the casino industry

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents and consequences of rapport in the casino industry. More specifically, it was proposed that four types of perceived dealer attributes (i.e. expertise, likeability, customer orientation, and physical attractiveness) influence rapport. It was also hypothesized that rapport has positive effects on customer satisfaction and commitment, which in turn positively affects four types of customer citizenship behavior: feedback, advocacy, helping, and tolerance. The conceptual model of this study was tested based on responses from 224 casino table game players. Results indicated that all of the perceived dealer attributes except for physical attractiveness help to enhance rapport. In addition, rapport influences the formation of both customer satisfaction and commitment. Lastly, customer satisfaction has significant effects on feedback and advocacy while commitment significantly affects all types of customer citizenship behavior. In sum, four types of perceived dealer attributes have a positive influence on rapport, which in turn positively affects the outcome variables. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed in the last part of the article.